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Chocolate Swiss Roll

The easiest way to make cake roll! No need to invert or use a towel. With simple ingredients, this cake will become a fav - free from dairy, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish/shellfish, sesame, mustard. Naturally vegan too! Made in 1 bowl and ready to serve in under 1 hour :D

**Many pics alert!!!** I wanted you to see the steps I took in order for you to achieve the same results for this stunning Chocolate Swiss Roll. Hope these pics help you do just that!

Pinch yourself friends because what you’re staring at is totally real.

Chocolate Swiss Roll baby!!!

Of the +/- 10 cakes I happily baked, the first few didn’t turn out. My husband “forbade” me from making any more of these swiss rolls {to save his waistline}. Of course I didn’t listen, because hello blog. But don’t worry – we enjoyed every last bite of said rolls {oh and my husband’s constant accusations that I’m deliberately sabotaging his road to fitness :)}.

When recipe testing, I start with family; if the recipe passes I move on to friends and neighbors. If I get the thumbs up, I post. Basically any excuse to make more for the sake of perfecting the recipe is how I roll :D

And you’re going to thank me for not giving up on this Chocolate Swiss Roll. My husband’s waistline be damned.

Since using eggs isn’t an option for us, I had to figure out how to make the cake pliable enough without weighing it down. That’s what I struggled with at first – getting the ratio precisely right between wet and dry.

Having said that, this cake will crack when you unroll it. But don’t sweat it, because once you roll it back up and give it some time to set in the fridge, it’ll seal seamlessly. And don’t forget the magic that is icing sugar which will beautifully hide imperfections should there be any.

Bottom line – this Chocolate Swiss Roll looks and tastes amazing! And seriously, who cares if it cracks? I’ve convinced myself that it’s part of the charm ;)

You’re going to swoon over how incredibly delicious, moist and soft this Chocolate Swiss Roll is.

It’s crazy simple. The ingredients are in your pantry, it’s allergen friendly, naturally vegan, school safe, healthy-ish, made in 1 bowl, and ready to dive into in under 1 hour if you don’t have the patience to wait longer.

Speaking of simple – you don’t need to mess around with inverting the cake and covering it with a towel dusted with icing sugar like most – if not all of the recipes out there instruct you to do. We’re all stressed out enough as it is, why complicate life further?

Everything is made in a bowl and with no equipment. You pour and spread the batter in a prepared pan and bake {see instructions}. Then the best part – you roll the cake onto itself! Leave it to cool completely before carefully unrolling and filling then re-rolling.

That’s it! I promise you won’t find anything simpler out there. And if you do don’t tell me because I’m under the assumption that I invented this genius technique :D

This perfect Chocolate Swiss Roll recipe is free from:

dairy

egg

soy

peanut

tree nuts

sesame

animal products

Feel free to use the icing/filling and jam you’d like for this roll recipe. I used the Coconut Whip tub from the So Delicious brand for simplicity’s sake – plus it tastes so good. I also used morello cherry jam. Truly delicious so you absolutely need this cake in your life and stomach. Like stat.

As always, stay connected with me on here and Insta & FB. I love chatting with you all!! xx

Chocolate Swiss Roll

The easiest way to make cake roll! No need to invert or use a towel. With simple ingredients, this cake will become a fav - free from dairy, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish/shellfish, sesame, mustard. Naturally vegan too! Made in 1 bowl and ready to serve in under 1 hour :D

Prep Time7mins

Cook Time15mins

Total Time22mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: European

Servings: 10slices

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Laila Sbeinati

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

1Cflour

⅓Ccocoa powder

½C+ 2 Tbsp sugar

2Tbspcornstarch or potato starch {or starch of choice - I used potato for this recipe}

1Tspbaking powder

¼Tspbaking soda

¼Tspsea salt

½Caqua faba {chickpea brine}

¼Cseed or veggie oil

1Tspapple cider vinegar or white vinegar

½Tspvanilla extract

Dusting

½Tbspcocoa powder

½Tsppotato or corn starch

Filling

Dairy free whipped cream {I used So Delicious Coconut Whip}

Jam of choice {I used Crofter's Morello Cherry jam}

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9"x13" cookie sheet/pan and line with parchment paper. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and starch for dusting the sheet cake later. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sugar to bowl and whisk well until all ingredients are combined.

Next, add your liquids to the bowl: aqua faba, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Using a spatula, mix the wet and dry ingredients very well until batter comes together. IT WILL BE VERY THICK!!

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out using an offset spatula if available {regular spatula if not} until evenly distributed.

Smack the pan a couple of times on the countertop then place in the preheated oven to bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool in pan for 20-25 minutes.

Generously dust top of cake with cocoa and starch mix.

Then, working from one of the short ends, carefully roll the cake with the parchment paper still attached, and lay on its end side down. {see pic for reference} Leave on the counter to cool completely.

Once cooled, very gently unroll the cake. It will crack but that's ok!!

Add a thick layer of jam all over. Follow with a thick layer of whipped cream. Make sure to leave about 1 - 1½" from edges to avoid over spilling of the cream.

Slowly re-roll cake back up, peeling the parchment paper away as you go. Once cake is rolled up, cover with same parchment paper and cover that with plastic wrap. Smooth wrapped cake with your hands and place in the fridge to set. Minimum 20 minutes.

When ready to serve, remove plastic wrap, remove parchment paper, and cut cake into 1" slices or evenly and serve. Clean knife between each cut for a clean look/pieces. Store any remaining pieces or roll back in the fridge, rolled in the parchment/plastic wrap to preserve moisture.

Notes

Remember, the batter will be thick, so have patience when spreading it into the pan. Your hard work will pay off :)

Store Chocolate Swiss Roll in the fridge tightly wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 1 week. Best consumed within 2-3 days.

This cake freezes very well too. Make sure it's well wrapped before you store it in the freezer. Allow roll to thaw at room temp for a few minutes {5-10} before cutting into to serve.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Hi Patricia! If you’re not allergic to eggs, then I’d replace the AF with 2 whole eggs. If eggs are an issue for you, I had a follower on social media say she was going to try using VeganEgg by Earth Island (Canada)/Follow Your Heart (USA) for this recipe. Hope this helps! xx

Hi Helen! Sorry I’m just getting to your comment – I’m not getting notifications sent when a comment is left on my blog – I’ll try to fix that stat!
Although I’ve never tried it in this recipe, you can try replacing the starch with 1 tsp of xanthan gum or just omit the starch part if you can’t have it; it’s only 2 tablespoons so it shouldn’t affect the results. As for the chickpea water, I haven’t tried it with another liquid so I’m afraid to recommend anything else. But if you try the flax, please let me know how it turns out! Next chocolate roll I make i’ll try using chia in place of the chickpea brine and will let you know if that works as well.
Thanks so much for your comment, Helen, and all the best with the recipe! xx

bad method, don’t leave any paper or foil on. the cake is very crackable. should have never followed that and should have just put it right on a tea cloth immediately after baking. entire cake fell apart when i followed the way the recipe says to make it cool before rolling and unrolling. the cake tastes good but the method for rolling is just not good.

sorry to hear your cake fell apart – did you allow it to cool for the time written? Because if you try to roll any cake that’s hot and hasn’t had time to cool to at least room temp, it will fall apart. And I do mention that the cake will crack when you unroll it and that it isn’t a big deal to the aesthetic of the cake. Anyway hope you try it again- and i’m glad you liked the taste :)

Hi! I made this recipe, but in a gluten free version (rice flour plus guar gum instead of regular flour) and I also substituted the cocoa powder with carob powder. I really suggest not to skip the “turn it on a new piece of parchment paper, remove the original paper and then roll in a cloth” work: it takes only a minute, but it avoid most of the cracks!
Just another tip: I whipped the aquafaba with the electric whisk becouse in the original recipe white eggs are whipped and they give softness and elasticity…
Sorry for my English and thanks for the recipe!

That’s wonderful, Alice! Glad it worked out for you gluten free and all – and thanks for sharing your tip! Look for my Raspberry Lemon Roll coming soon! I whip the aquafaba and it’s absolutely delicious!! Thanks so much again for your feedback xx

Hi there, I tried this recipe and found the batter very thick. I know you have mentioned this in the recipe, however I had a very tough time spreading also the consistency did not look like the in one of the pictures, it was more like dough consistency, is that how thick it will be? Am I missing anything in the recipe? The batter did taste good so I am sure the roll also would taste good, thanks for the recipe!

Hey Pushpa! Thanks so much for the feedback. It definitely shouldn’t have a dough-like consistency, however the important thing is the result. Can you let me know how it turned out?? I’d be happy to work this out with you :)